David Benavidez vs Anthony Yarde Preview Nov. 22nd, 2025
Two hard-hitting light heavyweights will be going at it this Saturday Nov. 22nd as David Benavidez of Phoenix, Arizona puts his WBC Title on the line against Anthony Yarde of London, England. Benavidez, a former WBC Super Middleweight Champion, last fought in February when he rose from the canvas in round 11 and pounded out a unanimous decision over former world champion David Morrell. In June, 2024, Benavidez beat former WBC Light Heavyweight Champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk of Ukraine via a 12-round unanimous decision for the vacant Interim WBC Title. Yarde last saw action in April when he beat Lyndon Arthur by 12-round unanimous decision in a trilogy match. Arthur beat Yarde by 12-round split decision in 2020 for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental and the Commonwealth Titles with Yarde stopping Arthur in the fourth round in their rematch in 2021 for the same two titles. This weekend’s fight can be seen live in most nations on DAZN pay-per-view from Saudi Arabia.
Benavidez vs Yarde Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Anthony Yarde +750
- David Benavidez -1400
My Pick
The 28-year-old Benavidez won the vacant WBC Super Middleweight Belt in September, 2017 with a split decision over Ronald Gavril even though he was dropped in the 12th round. He then beat Gavril by unanimous decision in a rematch five months later. He sat out for a year after testing positive for cocaine use and returned in March, 2019 with a second-round stoppage of J’Leon Love. Benavidez then regained the middleweight title by stopping Anthony Dirrell in the ninth round in September, 2019.
He lost it again though, this time on the weigh scale in August, 2020 against Roamer Alexis Angulo when he came in 2.8 lbs overweight. However, he still took care of Angulo by stopping him after 10 rounds. He picked up the Interim WBC Belt in May, 2022 when he halted former world champion David Lemieux in the third round and defended it against Caleb Plant via a 12-round unanimous decision and then stopped Demetrius Andrade after six rounds in November, 2023.
Benavidez is a hard-hitter who turned pro in 2013 after a short 15-0 amateur career. He’s boxed 160 rounds since and won the vacant NABF Junior Light Heavyweight Title in April, 2015 with a first-round TKO of Rollin Williams. He enters the match with a perfect record of 30-0 with 24 Ko’s and owns quite a bit of power with a current knockout ratio of 80 per cent. Gavril took him the distance in both of their fights but he then won six in a row by stoppage before Plant took him the distance last year. He’s now gone the distance in his last two fights and in three of his past four.
Benavidez likes to slug it out and that means he’s not really the hardest guy to hit, which makes him a very fan-friendly fighter. He also appears to have a pretty sturdy chin though even though Gavril and Morrell decked him. Benavidez stands 6-feet-2-inches tall with a reach of 74.5 inches and his biggest wins so far have been over Morrell, Andrade, Plant, Lemieux, Kyrone Davis, Ronald Ellis, Angulo, Dirrell, Love, Gavril, Rogelio (Porky) Medina, and Denis Douglin.
The 34-year-old Yarde climbs into the ring with a mark of 27-3 with 24 Ko’s and has boxed 125 rounds since turning pro back in 2015. He stands 6-feet tall with a 72-inch reach so gives up 2.5 inches in reach to Benavidez. He also carries very impressive power in his fists as 88.9 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage. The only times he went the distance to earn a victory were in 2015 in his second pro fight when he beat Stanislavs Makarenko on points over four rounds and in his last two outings against Ralfs Vilcans (UD 10-rounds) and Arthur.
Yarde fought a steady diet of limited opponents until facing Sergey Kovalev in 2019 for a shot at the WBO Light Heavyweight Belt. He had Kovalev in serious trouble but was eventually stopped in the 11thround for his first pro loss. He then he dropped a 12-round split decision to Arthur in December 2020 in a shot at the Commonwealth and WBO Inter-Continental Light Heavyweight Titles but stopped Arthur in the fourth round a year later to win those belts.
His third pro defeat also came by stoppage when IBF/WBO/WBC Champion Artur Beterbiev halted him in an eight-round slugfest in January, 2023. He bounced back eight months later with a second-round knockout win over Jorge Silva and then stopped Marko Nikolic in the third round before beating Vilcans last year and Arthur earlier this year. Yarde has always been a power puncher as he reportedly went 11-1 with 11 Ko’s as an amateur and that power has carried over to the pro ranks.
Since turning pro, Yarde has also captured the English Southern Area and and WBO European Light Heavyweight Titles and defended the WBO Inter-Continental Crown five times before losing to Arthur. He’s also beaten Walter Gabriel Sequeira, Dariusz Zek, Doc Spelman Tony Averlant, Nikola Sjekloca, Norbert Nemesapati, Richard Baranyi and Ferenc Albert. In total, he’s gone the distance just three times in his 30 pro fights.
Prediction…
Benavidez and Yarde are both powerful sluggers who have each gone the distance in their past two fights. Benavidez possesses a lot energy and aggression while Yarde combines speed and power. However, Gvozdyk, Demetrius Andrade and Caleb Plant and arguably Morrell were also better boxers than Benavidez but he made sure he threw enough leather to beat them. Benavidez likes to remain true to his successful formula which is to simply overwhelm his opponents with heavy artillery. He does get tagged numerous times throughout a fight of course so his chin definitely needs to hold out. Nobody needs to tell Benavidez to let his hands go as it comes naturally to him but he could be surprised by Yarde’s power. Yarde should have his moments and has a puncher’s chance but I give the edge to Benavidez though as he’s naturally more aggressive.
I’ll go with the more aggressive Benavidez.
Play Benavidez -1400 @ BetOnline.ag
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Anthony Yarde betting • David Benavidez betting